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What are some effective listening techniques?

Listening is the process of receiving and understanding information being transmitted. Effective listening refers to receiving the information accurately and perceiving it as it was intended to be understood. There are a number of techniques that you can employ to increase the probability that the message you are hearing is the message being sent. Below is a list of some of these techniques. Note that this list is not conclusive, but provides some examples.
- Prepare yourself to listen by giving your full attention to the speaker.
- Make eye contact with the speaker and give feedback to him/her to acknowledge that the message is being heard, such as smiling or nodding your head.
- Don’t interrupt someone who’s speaking. Allow them to finish their train of thought before you respond.
- Don’t make assumptions about what you think the speaker is going to say. Doing this can cause you to ‘hear what you expect to hear’ as opposed to what is actually being said. Try to understand the speaker’s point of view even if you don’t agree with it.
- Watch the speaker for any non-verbal clues such as body motions and facial expressions that allow you to ‘read between the lines.’
- Use feedback techniques to make sure you understood what the speaker said such as: asking questions to clarify your understanding, repeating back to the speaker what you think you heard (parroting), or rephrase what you think the speaker said to check your perception.